Tax discount for businesses

While waiting to learn whether she would be picked for a jury, an elementary school teacher recently said, “I don’t mind coming at all - it gives me a break from the kiddos.”

There’s a reason why teachers, firefighters and employees of sizable corporations can find performing jury service relatively palatable: Their employers continue to pay them while they meet the standards of good citizenship.

Dishwashers, hair stylists, landscapers and day care workers, on the other hand, rarely share the feelings about jury service that the elementary teacher expressed.

Why? Because some low-wage workers and employees of certain industries work for companies that do not pay them while they are out for jury service. For some of these workers, it is an issue of not being able to feed their families or not paying rent if they lose a day or more of pay.

The state legislature can address this issue and insure that jury pools include a true cross-section of county residents by passing a law allowing businesses that pay workers during jury service to receive a discount on the state business margins tax.

State law prohibits companies from firing workers who are absent due to jury service. But it does not require employers to pay workers. Only five states impose such a requirement.

But there are ways for government, without being intrusive, to provide businesses with incentives to pay workers absent because of jury service. Lawmakers will consider passing House Bill 433, which would allow employers to claim a 15 percent discount when calculating their state margins taxes if they pay workers out for jury service.

This law would have far-reaching benefits:

• More people, including low-wage employees, would appear for jury service.

• The public likely would have increased confidence in the judicial system knowing that a more representative cross-section of society was serving on juries.

• Taxpayers would save money because the District Clerk’s Office would mail tens of thousands fewer jury notices.

• With more people appearing for jury service, residents would be called to serve less often.

Last year, the Harris County District Clerk’s Office mailed about 400,000 notifications of jury service. The response rate based on these notifications is 61 percent, meaning that 61 percent of the people appeared for service, rescheduled or were granted an exemption for a state-mandated reason. Exemptions can be granted to senior citizens who are 70 or older, parents who care for children under13 and students, for instance.

But 39 percent of people mailed notifications did not show up at the courthouse, did not seek to reschedule and did not claim an exemption. In other words, 39 percent blew off jury service.

The District Clerk’s Office believes that providing businesses with a discount on the margins tax would help reduce the number of no-shows here in Harris County and elsewhere in the state.

The office reaps $100,000 in tax savings for every 5 percent increase in the appearance rate. Savings come from reductions in postage, paper and labor.

Harris County pays prospective jurors $6 the first day of jury service and $30 a day thereafter. So a juror who served on a five-day trial would receive $126. After paying for parking, which would cost about $30 for the week, a juror would make about $96. A worker paid $8 an hour and $320 a week is likely to view jury service as a $200 loss.

Passing the bill could convince an employer to pay this type of worker during jury service.

Let’s spread the responsibility for jury service among a greater number of us. The discount on the margins tax will increase the number of people who come to jury service and cause those people who serve regularly to be summoned less often.

Chris Daniel is the Harris County district clerk. Debbie Riddle is a Republican state representative serving an area of north Harris County and primary author of House Bill 433.